Rich Thinking, Poor Thinking - Which One are You? 7 Key Signs
By Kathy Baker
Have you ever wondered why some people have the
natural ability to easily attract and accumulate wealth, while others
constantly struggle and never get anywhere?
Why some
people do and others don’t has fascinated me all my life, as have the underlying
consciousness dynamics of ‘rich’ thinking and ‘poor’ thinking about success,
money and abundance.
In my quest to uncover the reasons, I’ve read many books (Kiyosaki, etc etc etc)
and have been an avid observer of people - the successful and not so successful.
The two
groups of people have distinctly different mindsets, belief systems, and approaches
to life and living. It’s as though they
see the world through two very different sets of colored glasses.
The good news is that you can change your mindset, with concerted and
consistent focus and application.
Let’s
examine the key signs that differentiate both groups. In the process, let’s take it a step further
and I’d also like to offer some practical action steps you can take to change
the way you think, what you do, and the results you achieve.
1.
Be Very Clear about What You Want ~ Versus ~ Don’t Know What You Want
When you
have a ‘rich’ mindset, you have grand ‘Vision’ and see with crystal clarity
what you want to achieve, and believe you will achieve it with all your
heart. It starts at the ideas phase, you
then nurture it, develop it, ‘feel’ it as if it’s happening ‘now’, and live and
breathe it, until it becomes your reality.
You get
excited about it and your passion and natural enthusiasm is so infectious it rubs
off on others and enables them to see your vision too, and they get swept-up in
your excitement.
Conversely,
with a ‘poor’ mentality you may not be clear, or even more sadly, you don’t
know what you want. You’ve succumbed to the
conditioning about stereotypes and boxes you ‘should’ fit into that you’ve been
fed throughout your life. This has
blurred your connection with going for and achieving the best in your life.
You may
entertain some dreams, but either you lack confidence in yourself, fear
failure, or are concerned about what family and friends may say, or that they may
shoot down or ridicule what you want to do - the “tall poppy syndrome”.
Success Tip - It’s the saddest thing to wander
through life not knowing what you want. So,
take the time to get clear and define what you want. Get visual and graphic about it by using a
picture or vision board to compile your ‘mind movie’ about your dream life.
2.
Have ‘Positive Beliefs’ around Money, Wealth and Abundance ~ Versus ~ ‘Negative
Beliefs’
We acquire
our beliefs early in life from our parents, upbringing, peers, and
environment. It takes a healthy level of
self-awareness to know what beliefs drive and influence your life. It is oh so worthwhile taking the time to
clarify this for yourself.
The ‘rich’
mindset rides high on the wavelength that believes - “everything I touch turns
to gold”, “there’s plenty enough out there for all and I’m going to get mine”,
“money is easy and just energy, an exchange for value” …
Negative
beliefs about money may be along the lines of - “there’s never enough”, “it
doesn’t come my way”, “as soon as it comes in, it goes out”, “if only I just
had enough to pay the bills” …
Be aware -
and beware - of potentially contradictory beliefs - “I want the success and
wealth, but maybe I’ll get stressed out, have to work too hard, get drawn into
more than I want to and can do, I’ll lose my freedom, maybe it’ll go belly up,
and then what?” Watch your ‘buts’ as
they are clues to your inner conflicts.
This thinking
sends confusing mixed messages out into the Universe that will be taken literally,
dissipate your original intention, and get you more of the negative side of the
equation coming your way.
Success Tip - Monitor your dialogue for a day
or two, or even better, a week. Watch
your thoughts, words and phrases you use, write them down in a journal, and
analyze them intuitively. You could also
get a trusted friend to monitor your dialogue and constructively feedback to
you.
When you’ve identified your limiting beliefs, draw up two columns and write
them in the left column. Then rephrase
them positively in the right column, and notice the shift you feel.
This is a
mindset thing that with concerted effort and reprogramming you can acquire,
change or make adjustments to help you achieve your success plans.
3.
‘Winner’ Mentality ~Versus ~ ‘Battler’ or ‘Victim’ Mentality
When you’re
in the ‘winner’ mindset, you have confidence in your abilities and you’re self-
assured. Your attitude is - “I can do
it, I can do anything I set my mind to. Anything is possible. Bring it on.
Let me find the best way to get there.
It’s a challenge and I love it”...
You take
risks and get high on the adrenalin rush.
Whether you know it or not, you’re tuned into your gut instinct, your
intuition, you follow your hunches, and it drives the way you approach your
business activities.
By
contrast, if you’re in the ‘battler’, ‘victim’ or ‘poor’ mentality, you’re
focused on surviving, security, protecting yourself, and minimizing or
defending against bad things happening.
You’re in defense mode most of the time.
It’s a ‘fear’ and ‘siege’ mentality, which makes you want to ‘close down
shop’ at the slightest threat of a bump in the road.
You’re not
a risk taker. It’s best to do nothing than
to risk failing, because that’s too big a risk, devastating and bad. When presented with an opportunity or challenge,
you go through the filing cabinet in your mind of all the things that could go
wrong, that have gone wrong in the past, to justify not taking action.
With a
‘rich’ mindset, you will approach a problem as a challenge to overcome and
tackle it head on. In the ‘poor’
mindset, you will see it as an insurmountable problem that is the bane of your
life. “Oh ‘poor’ me” - and literally.
Success Tip - Focus on the ‘rewards’ rather
than the ‘risks’. It’s all about how you
perceive and approach an opportunity, issue or problem - with the mindset that
you can do it, and solve it, no problem at all.
It’s like switching between the two sets of colored glasses, or changing
gears in your car.
4.
Totally Committed to Success ~ Versus ~ Ready to ‘Wimp-Out’ Anytime
When you
have the ‘rich’ mindset, you’re totally Committed
to Success. You go the extra mile,
and do whatever it takes to get there.
You have clear, unwavering focus and dedication.
You don’t let
doubts enter, and never allow them to take sway. You’re determined, persistent and focused on
action to move forward. Whatever gets
you the success you want are the only things in which you’re interested.
By
contrast, the ‘poor’ mindset will see you being half-hearted and lacking
tenacity, endurance and staying power, so you tend to give up as soon as the
going gets tough, or you have to step out of your comfort zone, because it’s
all too hard, really.
5.
Think Big, Dream Big, See No Limitations ~ Versus ~ Pull in the Reigns
When you’re
in the ‘rich’ mindset, with your big visions and dreams, you focus on doing
what you love and are passionate about.
Having fun and doing things that exhilarate you are utmost important
values to you.
You believe
that you can always invent or generate money on demand by creating new
ventures, products and services that provide value to others.
You’re
‘rich’ not only in your ability to attract money and material things, but also in
understanding human beings, market demands and needs, state-of-the-art trends,
and in providing value and serving others.
As Zig
Ziglar says - “The best way to get what you want is to help as many other
people get what they want.” How true is
that?
If you’re stuck
in the ‘poor’ mindset, you tend to under-rate and sell yourself short. You look for the easiest thing to do and opt
for what you can do comfortably at the most basic level, or get some minimal
skills training so you can do it.
Sometimes
you may even operate on automatic pilot without a plan, or by default, and just
‘settle’ for whatever turns up. It’ll
do, it’s good enough.
Successful
people constantly raise the bar and aspire to greater things. They also invest in their personal
development and ongoing learning and see it as a life long journey.
Success Tip - Focus on your passion and
commitment - it will override your programming.
Focus on your higher vision and purpose and do something you’re
passionate about. Do what you love and
love what you do.
6. Take Responsibility ~ Versus ~ Blame Everyone and Everything Else
When you
have the ‘rich’ mindset, you may fear failure, but you’re so intently focused
on succeeding, that you see nothing else.
Nothing else matters except for achieving the end goal. You take responsibility and step up to the
plate, and revel in it.
If you’re
in the ‘poor’ mindset, you fear failure.
You may also fear success and the responsibility that comes with
it. You most likely will undermine or
sabotage succeeding and say - “see I told you so, I knew it wouldn’t work.” Or blame external forces or other people.
‘Fear’ is
the greatest repellent to getting what you want and attracting what you desire.
7. Take Action ~ Versus ~ Procrastination
With the
‘rich’ mindset, you act with speed. You
aren’t overly perturbed when something doesn’t work or fails. You see it as a way to de-bug what you’ve
been doing so you can perfect and get a step closer to succeeding.
You have
less emotional attachment, which frees you up to try more things, in spite of
the risks. It’s a numbers game for you,
with percentage hits.
In the
‘poor’ mindset, because you lack confidence and fear failure as well as
success, it all gets too hard, so you delay taking action and
procrastinate. You miss out in terms of
timing, and the opportunity goes elsewhere to find a more ready and eager
participant.
Success Tip - "Fail forward
fast." The faster you can fail
forward, the faster you will succeed.
Think about it ...
If you have
some or many of ‘rich’ thinking qualities above, congratulations, you’re on
your way. If you haven’t yet, rest
assured not all is lost, as you can cultivate it with persistent commitment and
application.